Abstract:
The objectives of this research were to 1) study the components of the English for communication ability of lower secondary students, 2) develop an English instructional model to enhance lower secondary students ability to communicate in English 3) study the effects of the model. The research procedure consisted of 3 phases as follows; Phase 1: Study the components of English for communication ability of lower secondary students. The sample used in this study consisted of 400 grade 9 students in the second semester of academic year 2013 from 11 schools under Secondary Educational Service Area Office 5, Lop Buri province. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select the sample. The instruments used in this study consisted of an interview form and a 5-level rating scale questionnaire with a reliability of 0.96. The instruments used in the study were statistical data analysis to find the reliability value and confirmatory factor analysis using LISREL Version 9.10 activation code: 475F-1428-98B6-0B37. Phase 2: Develop an English instructional model to enhance lower secondary students ability to communicate in English. Five experts examined the suitability and the feasibility of the model developed from the findings of the study in phase 1 including the results of the synthesis of the concept and related theories. The results showed that the model developed was appropriate and could be used to develop an English instructional model to enhance the English communication ability of lower secondary students. Phase 3: Study the effects of the English instructional model for enhancing the English communication ability of lower secondary students. The experimental research methodology was carried out by time-series design. The sample consisted of 60 grade 9 students in the first semester of academic year 2014 from Winitsuksa School in Lop Buri province selected using multistage cluster sampling. Simple random sampling was used to divide the students into 2 groups, 30 in a control group and 30 in an experimental group. The study lasted 12 weeks. The data were collected by using an English language communication test and a satisfaction questionnaire concerning the English instructional model for enhancing the English communication ability of lower secondary students. The statistics used in the data analysis were mean and standard deviation, including hypothesis testing, one-way analysis of variance with repeated measures (Repeated Measures One-Way ANOVA). The results were as follows: 1. The English communication ability of lower secondary students consisted of 5 components as follows: Grammatical Competence, Sociolinguistic Competence, Discourse Competence, Strategic Competence and Meta-cognitive Competence. The validity of the analysis could be represented by the IOC, including Chi-Square: c2 = 0.91, df = 219, p-value = 0.00, RMSEA = 0.00, GFI = 0.96, AGFI = 0.94, CFI = 1.00 and CN = 550.89. 2. The English instructional model developed to enhance English communication ability of lower secondary students consisted of 4 elements as follows: 1) The principles, 2) The objectives, 3) The teaching activities which consisted of 5 stages 3.1) Stimulation, 3.2) Presentation, 3.3) Demonstration, 3.4) Self-assessment and 3.5) Production and 4) Evaluation. 3. The results showed that the use of the English instructional model provided higher learning achievements for the experiment group compared to the control group at the 0.05 level of statistical significance. The level of satisfaction with the English instructional model was at the highest.